True, but Dennis will be pragmatic, and if Honda want a lead driver (read: WDC driver), then his choices are limited to: Raikkonen, Alonso, Button, Hamilton, Vettel. I think the first three are more likely than the last two as well.. But for all three of them retirement is not too far away. If McLaren won’t sign Hulkenberg still then the way is clear for them to run two junior drivers.

Mercedes
Hamilton: Sees Merc as his best bet for a title challenge and stays on at the team.
Rosberg: After a strong 2014 he stays on at Mercedes in the hope of another strong season.

Ferrari
Raikkonen: Likely to be his last season.
Hulkenberg: Promoted to a full-blown top seat after a very strong 2014.

Red Bull Racing Infiniti – Renault
Vettel: However badly 2014 goes, I don’t see him going anywhere else.
Ricciardo: Hoping to do better after a year of “settling in”.

Mclaren – Honda
Alonso: Ron succedeeds in tempting a front-running driver to the team, hoping for a title success.
Magnussen: A decent first year sees him stay for another season.

Telmex Sahara Force India – Mercedes
Perez: On a multi-year contract. Has improved his form to seal the deal
Gutierrez: Bringing in the Mexican sponsorship.

PDVSA Lotus-Enstone – Renault
Grosjean: Has a few podiums since 2013 as well as two wins.Stays on in hope. He is starting to get a little restless though.
Maldonado: ££££££££££££££££££££££££ from PDVSA. Then more ££££££££

Williams – Mercedes
Massa: Stays at the team for his last years in F1.
Bottas: A great 2014 keeps him at Williams.

Sauber – Ferrari
Bianchi: Moved up by Ferrari
Sutil: A surprisingly good 2014 as well as sponsorship from Medion keeps him for his last season.-

Well, we now have the chance of Simona de Silvestro becoming the first female F1 racing driver for a good twenty years. She’ll find it tough to beat Sutil, Gutierrez and Van der Garde to a Sauber F1 seat, but there is also a possible new team in Haas. But, if you could find sponsorship anywhere, you’d have to think Switzerland could be a good starting place..

Notes:
– Button retires. McLaren fail to lure Alonso back partly due to Dennis’ increased involvement, so they instead opt for Hulkenberg as Button’s replacement.
– Bottas moves to Force India to replace Hulkenberg.
– Williams promote reserve driver Nasr after an impressive GP2 campaign to make it an all Brazilian, all Felipe line-up.
– Bianchi moves up to Sauber who brings a Ferrari engine subsidy. Sutil is given the boot as, although he beat Gutierrez, he doesn’t bring the same level of sponsorship.
– Vergne is dumped after being beaten by Kvyat and his form continued to stagnate. Sainz is given the drive partly due to Cepsa’s money.
– Caterham promote reserve driver Frijns after the experienced Kobayashi fails to beat Ericsson convincingly.
– Marussia fold after another poor season, but Honda take over to run their ‘B’ team. The Super Aguri name returns to F1 after their recent involvement in Formula E, and McLaren protégés Vandoorne and de Vries are placed in the cars.

I imagine 2 possible “universes”
1. Button gets the championship with McLaren this year. Magnussen ends up as “another big promise” (another Diresta?) so Kevin is fired by Ron. Jenson decides to retire with his second belt. Alonso goes to McLaren in 2015 after he is beaten by Kimi (just a couple of points, but that’s so much to take for Fer) and seeing the champion’s car is available in McLaren, he grabs it, with Dennis or not. Hulkenberg takes the mighty number 27 where it belongs, to Ferrari, where he gets the championship in 2015. The Red Bulls are nowhere near the podium this year, in a McLaren2013-like campaign. Mercedes gets more victories but it’s Rosberg who gets the most of them, and so Nico gets the “first driver” treatment. Hamilton can’t stand it and returns to McLaren, where (oh surprise) it’s Fernando again.

I just don’t want to write a list of 20 names… I just imagine 2 possible “universes”
1. Button gets the championship with McLaren this year. Magnussen ends up as “another big promise” (another Diresta?) so Kevin is fired by Ron. Jenson decides to retire with his second belt. Alonso goes to McLaren in 2015 after he is beaten by Kimi (just a couple of points, but that’s so much to take for Fer) and seeing the champion’s car is available in McLaren, he grabs it, with Dennis or not. Hulkenberg takes the mighty number 27 where it belongs, to Ferrari, where he gets the championship in 2015. The Red Bulls are nowhere near the podium this year, in a McLaren2013-like campaign. Mercedes gets more victories but it’s Rosberg who gets the most of them, and so Nico gets the “first driver” treatment. Hamilton can’t stand it and returns to McLaren, where (oh surprise) it’s Fernando again.

Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton – has Contract
Nico Rosberg – Has no reason to leave, team have no reason to let him go. Yet. Something may kick off that creates a rift between the two drivers and causes Nico to leave, but I highly doubt it.

McLaren-Honda
Jenson Button – sticks around for a final season to help with the transition back to Honda power.
Kevin Magnussen – kept on after a solid rookie season.

Force India-Mercedes
Nico Hulkenberg – has Contract
Sergio Perez – Impresses against Hulkenberg when many expected him to crumble, kept for a second season.

Ferrari
Fernando Alonso – A dismal year leaves him wanting to move, but with no seats available at better teams Fernando sticks around for what many believe will be his final season.
Kimi Raikkonen – Also kept on for a second season, despite not performing fantastically.

Toro Rosso-Renault
Daniil Kvyat – Kept on for a second crack after a strong first season.
Carlos Sainz Jr. – Despite Vergne performing solidly again, he’s let go after a third full season with the team because that appears to be their policy. Sainz Jr replaces him after winning the FR3.5 title.

Lotus-Renault
Romain Grosjean – Sticks around after finding no better offers, despite a disappointing 2014 for the team.
Jean-Eric Vergne – Lotus realise Maldonado isn’t worth it and instead take Vergne, with increased backing from Total.

Sauber-Ferrari
Giedo van der Garde – A miserable 2014 leads the team to fire both Sutil and Gutierrez, who have also got less money than their replacements. van der Garde takes one seat after spending 2014 gathering more sponsors.
Sergey Sirotkin – Sirotkin takes the second seat with Russian money.

Marussia-Honda
Max Chilton – Marussia ditch Ferrari to follow McLaren to Honda power as a result of their technical tie-up getting stronger. Chilton is kept on board as a safe pair of hands.
Stoffel Vandoorne – Meanwhile Vandoorne replaces the out-going Bianchi as another result of the Marussia-McLaren link.

Caterham-Renault
Marcus Ericsson – His money buys him a second season, just.
Robin Frijns – Finally gets his chance after finding some sponsorship.

Haas-Mercedes
Alexander Rossi – Haas snap up the Mercedes deal vacated by McLaren and sign Rossi as expected with the American link.
Danica Patrick – Despite claims she wouldn’t move, Patrick is tempted over to F1 by her Nascar team as they believe running the first female driver for years will pull them more sponsorship, and it does.

Forza Rossa-Ferrari
Jules Bianchi – Forza Rossa enter as Ferrari B-Team and take the Ferrari engine vacated by Marussia. They also take Bianchi on board as a member of Ferrari’s young driver program.
Raffaele Maricello – In-keeping with the Ferrari B-Team theme, they sign Marciello.

Most of that is pretty believeable and I can see all that happening. I just hope Haas don’t go all ‘Team USA’ and pick American drivers (1 US driver, Rossi, fine, but not two) and actually consider all the options.